


Traveler's Blues

by Sinesthero



Series: Titans of Industry [3]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games)
Genre: Anal Sex, Frottage, I Will Go Down With This Ship, M/M, Reunion Fic, Sex, post cannon, totally got smutty, will probably get smutty
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2018-03-26
Packaged: 2019-02-07 07:43:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 20,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12836484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sinesthero/pseuds/Sinesthero
Summary: Months have passed since the Vault of the Traveler was opened. Vaughn, leader of the Children of Helios and acting CEO of the Atlas Corporation, has finally gotten word that Rhys and Fiona are alive, but held captive in the floating city of Sanctuary. Dropping everything, he has rounded up Loader Bot and Sasha and gone to retrieve the rest of their found family.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> It was only a matter of time before I would write this. Can be read as a stand alone story or as part of the series.

 

The people of the floating city of Sanctuary did not care for men in business suits. Men in suits had never done anything good for life on Pandora. Corporations rose and corporations fell, each one raking at Pandora and taking from it what they wanted with no care for the lives crushed under their machinations.

Vaughn made sure to dress casually for this emergency trip out to Sanctuary. Lilith and her associates were keenly aware of his status as a former employee of the Hyperion Corporation so he felt it would be gauche to remind them. Tan robes tied close over a plate of chest armor and pair of worn blue jeans would have to do. His accessories included an Atlas shield and a pair of Atlas revolvers.

Sasha was outfitted with a quality shield and her favorite SMG. She wore her typical style of fashionably practical gear with goggles keeping the wind from her eyes.

They flew in on a buzzard helmed by Loader Bot, who as usual, wore nothing.

Lilith had echoed Vaughn in the middle of his sleep cycle to declare their truce broken. Then she dropped the real bombshell- that Rhys and Fiona were alive and in her jail.

The floating city loomed large in its shabby glory like something from an old world Rock and Roll album cover. Somewhere in all that rough and tumble decay was the man he loved and the  woman he counted among his best of friends.

“Requesting permission to land.” Loader Bot said through the echo com.

“Permission granted.” A voice replied.

LB brought the buzzard down enough for Vaughn and Sasha to hop off before he set the craft down on the makeshift landing pad at the corner of the floating city.

A vault hunter stood a few steps up from the new arrivals. Tall and thin, Mordecai was an imposing figure even though they were on friendly terms. You could never see the man’s eyes and so you could never really tell what he was thinking.

The sniper had stayed at Helios for a long Pandoran night months back, when some of the Children of Helios had found him injured out in the desert and given him aid. It was a risky venture as Mordecai had made no secret of his desire to kill every last Hyperion grunt alive.

Vaughn’s easy disposition and the relative peacefulness of the community there had won them some measure of his good will. Vaughn got his wounds patched and they drank together under the reflected light of Elpis. They poured out liquor for Rhys, Fiona, Bloodwing, and Roland. They had bonded- at least a little, over the rawness of loss.

Mordecai’s influence had been invaluable in getting Lilith to to back off of her hostility towards the Children of Helios. Nonetheless, he was still her man through and through.

With him were several Crimson Lance men, their guns in their hands but pointed upwards. They stood behind Mordecai in stony silence.

Sasha held her gun as well but kept it pointed similarly skyward. She moved to stand next to Vaughn and pulled off her goggles, letting them fall around her neck.  

Vaughn raised a gloved hand in greeting, “Mordecai! Hello... there. Is this all… really… necessary?” His voice got higher the longer he spoke.

The tall man shrugged, “We can’t be too careful, man. Welcome back to Sanctuary.”  

“Nothing has changed with our agreements,” Vaughn said, trying to make the most of his height. He pulled his hood back to let the Pandoran sun bathe his face. “This is all just a misunderstanding.”

Mordecai was casually ambivalent, “You know I don’t have any beef with you, Rey bajito, but that’s Lilith’s call.” He turned his head to Sasha and said, “You can keep your weapons out of respect to the agreement but if you pull them in town it's going to be the last thing you’re going to do.” It was spoken as a promise, free of malice.

Sasha grimly slung her SMG strap over her shoulder. “As long as you haven’t hurt my sister I probably won’t need to.” She glared at him through narrowed eyes.

“We haven’t hurt her.” Mordecai insisted and beckoned the pair to walk with him up the winding way to their headquarters. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

“Same can’t be said of Rhys it sounds like.” Vaughn said, a bitter note in his voice.

“He’s fine. We got him some medicine, alright?” Mordecai added in a hushed voice, “Brick wouldn’t have had to punch him if he had just shut up. That guy's mouth is a real problem.”

Sasha and Vaughn looked at each other with matching frowns.

Vaughn walked faster, “Yeah, well… That’s Rhys.”

“Look at it from our perspective, they were in our base… our inner sanctum. What were we to think?” He took a pull off of his flask before hitching it back to his belt again.

“I get it,” Vaughn replied. “I don’t like it, but I get it.”

The path stretched onward and upward until they came to the headquarters of the Crimson Lance.

It was unchanged since the last time Vaughn had seen it when they had made their original mutual peace accord months ago. It was every bit the same ramshackle, dimly lit affair it had been then.

Lilith the Siren was waiting just inside the doorway. There was a hint of instability in her odd yellow eyes that worried him- a tempest just waiting to erupt out of a calm blue sky. She hated Hyperion and anything to do with it but even she couldn’t deny that Vaughn and his Children of Helios had been a force of peace and stability in the wastes. Furthermore, in spite of having a super weapon at their disposal, they had only used it once.

Lilith’s hands were on her hips as she looked at them grimly, “Vaughn the Bandit King.”

He responded in kind, no more friendly in his tone, “Lilith... the Siren.” He folded his arms and took in a deep breath to puff himself up.

“Who’s with you?” the Firehawk demanded as she took in the unfamiliar woman.

“Sasha.” Sasha herself spoke up. “An actual Pandoran… unlike any of you. I want my sister, now.”

Loader Bot also spoke up, “You have my father and Fiona. Prepare to return them immediately.”

Vaughn turned and gave them an anxious look, “Woah woah woah. Calm down guys.” Looking back to the siren, he said. “You have nothing we want to see. Nothing we’d need to spy on you for.”

Sasha kept a cool eye on everyone, a coiled spring waiting to burst into motion if needed.

Loader Bot fell silent but stayed protectively close to his smaller father.

“Then why were they in my base?” Lilith demanded.

Unfolding his arms Vaughn gestured with them, “We don’t know. We haven’t seen them in months. Not since we opened the Vault of the Traveller. I was explicitly up front about this when we last met. I gave you all the information I had in good faith.” That was not even remotely true. Vaughn was not fool enough to give everything away. Some secrets he held close to his chest. Still, he gave all the relevant details with lawyerly wiggle room.

“I don’t trust any of your kind. The only reason I let you run your little camp out there is you keep the peace and you’ve made some friends with your little charity acts.”

An anger was boiling up in his blood but he knew he had to keep himself cool. “Look I super get how you feel about me, but if you could please take us to them, we’ll sit down together and we can figure all of this out. Those are my people and I thought they were dead… I thought I’d never see them again.”

Lilith’s expression was steely as she looked them all over. Taut silence reigned over the room as they stared each other down until she relented, “Come upstairs and don’t make me regret this.” She lead them up the stairs into her war room.

Fiona and Rhys were sitting side by side on metal folding chairs under the eye of the massive Brick in the corner of the room. The majority of the space was dominated by a holo table that was currently just displaying a map of the wastes.

Vaughn noticed immediately the way Fiona’s arm was wrapped protectively around Rhys. The very sight of them felt like a knife in his heart. Neither one looked what could be called well, but she seemed more alert than he did. Both seemed like they had faded with pallor and thinness.

He struggled to keep the anger out of his voice and lost as his blue eyes blazed, “They look terrible. What did you do to them?” He willed his eyes not to well up but he was damned if his tear ducts would obey him.

“Fiona!” Sasha pushed past Lilith who did not do anything to stop them for all her threats.

Brick watched them without commentary, not seeming remotely threatened by their presence.

Sasha did not appear to give a single damn about the large man. She wrapped her arms around both of them and squeezed them close. “I’m so glad you’re alright.”

Fiona hugged her sister back with one arm. “I missed you.”

“Hey,” Rhys said weakly.

“I didn’t do anything to them… except we had to subdue your boyfriend.” Lilith insisted. “They came like this.”

Vaughn too, couldn’t wait and followed Sasha.

Only Loader Bot remained to glare with his red eye at the Vault hunters intruding upon the reunion.

Vaughn pulled Rhys up into his arms causing a flood of tears and kissing as they wrapped their arms around each other.

Rhys had to hunch down to mash his lips against Vaughn’s. He was slow and languid in his movements, like a man drugged.

“Hey… your arm is healed,” Fiona rose with Sasha’s help and hugged her sister tight.

“Yeah like months have passed, Fi. I am so happy to see you!” Sasha insisted. “And I am so mad at you!”

“I know.” Fiona responded and they rocked back and forth in each other’s arms.

Vaughn and Rhys wasted no time with words. Their lips pressed tightly together and Vaughn pushed Rhys back against the wall, going up on his highest tip toes.

Rhys slumped against the wall, letting his stronger lover hold him in place as he kissed him.

Mordecai asked, “Hey, Lilith, do you need Brick and I to stick around… We have other things to do.”

Lilith’s jaw set tight, frustrated and uncomfortable. “Yes, I need you both to stick around,” she snapped.

Mordecai leaned his back against the wall.

Brick folded his massive arms and looked at the ceiling after sharing a look with his friend.

Lilith cleared her throat, “I understand this is a very emotional time...but can we please focus here.”

They weren’t even listening. Rhys had a bunch of Vaughn’s robe balled up in his robotic fist and the other was wrapped tightly around the smaller man’s shoulders as they wept and kissed.

Fiona was teary eyed but refused to acknowledge the fact. Her arms still tight around her sister, she said, “They’re going to need a minute… so let me just start telling you what happened or whatever we need to do to get out of here because I have a headache the size of Elpis and you’re going to need to put a bullet in my brain if I don’t get some food and drink like… really quick.”

“Sit back down, Fi. You don’t look so good.” Sasha gently pushed her sister back into the chair. She turned and sized Brick up, “You, go get them some food and water now. She can’t tell you anything if she’s passed out.” She snapped her fingers to drive her point home.

Brick stared down at Sasha, sizing up the small woman before his mouth split into a grin. “Damn, Girl. You remind me of one of those little yappy dogs that thinks it's twice as big as it is and goes up against the pit bull. I'll see what we've got on hand.”

The siren looked to her massive henchman with a frown, “Don't be gone long.”

“I'll be back in a flash.” The big man had to duck to make it through the doorway. It was clearly not made with a man of his size in mind.

Vaughn pulled back from Rhys and just looked at him a long moment. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Rhys said, before slumping the moment Vaughn loosed his grip. “Or, maybe not.” He admitted..

Vaughn said, “Come on…” He helped him back in the chair next to Fiona.

Loader Bot finally moved close to hug both Rhys and Fiona in turn. “Hi.”

“The robot needs a hug too?” Lilith sounded irritated.

Mordecai coughed, but it seemed only to cover a guffaw.

“Hey.” Vaughn looked at the Siren, his thick brows set in a sternly indignant expression. “That’s my Fiance’s son and he does need a hug. I’m really sorry our tearful reunion is getting in the way of whatever the heck you do up here… but you’re the one keeping us here. So if you want to let us go, then let us go… and if you want us to stay and tell you what’s going on, then kindly chill your tits and give us a minute!”

It stunned Lilith into aggravated silence. She folded her arms.

Rhys reached out and took a hold of Loader Bot’s metal wrist with his own inorganic fingers. “Is Gortys ok? Are you okay?”

LB patted Rhys’ head ever so gently and said, “Thanks to you, Father, she and I are both doing well. Though it will be better now that you are back.”

“Thanks,” Rhys said a shiver running through him though the day was hot.

Vaughn took off his robe and swaddled Rhys in it protectively.

“I'm so sorry.” Rhys whispered with wide, haunted eyes as he looked up at Vaughn.

“You're safe. We're together. It's okay.” Vaughn said, smiling through his tears. He stayed standing at Rhys side, one of his hands finding a grip at the back of his neck so he could squeeze him reassuringly.

Brick’s heavy footsteps were heard before he was seen. He carried two tin cups full of passable looking water and two wrapped protein bars which he gave to Rhys and Fiona. “Food and water,” he said to Sasha.

She replied with a succinct, “Thank you.”

Fiona tore into the wrapper off hers and took a huge bite. Once it was swallowed she drank from the cup. “So… the long and short answer is… We have no idea why we showed up here. I don't remember what happened while we were there.”

“You're kidding me.” Lilith said, her eyebrow twitching.

Rhys could barely open his wrapper so Vaughn assisted while he spoke. “Fiona isn't lying. Best we can tell… we teleported to… some weird Eridian structure… we… milled around there… it seemed like forever… through rooms and halls and… something happened and now we were here.”

“Why did you enter the Vault.” Lilith demanded.

“Same reason everyone does,” Fiona said. “Treasure. I didn’t want this guy to get all the good stuff.” She nodded her head in Rhys’ direction.

“What did you find? Was there treasure? Technology, weapons?” Her eyes blazed with curiosity.

“Do you see anything?” Rhys asked, squinting. Even weak as he was nothing stopped his sarcasm. He pulled Vaughn’s robe tighter around himself with one hand while the other held his food bar.

Brick squinted down at the cyborg with clear annoyance, like he was just waiting for another opportunity to hit the man.

Sasha’s green eyes were full of ire as she asked, “Do you have any more stupid questions?”

Rhys bit into the protein bar and had to chew it a long time before he could swallow it.

Vaughn helped him swallow some water to wash it down.

Lilith was calculating the odds of their story being true by the look of her. “Why would the Vault bring you here?”

Vaughn looked up at her, sounding accusatory, “For all we know it could be because of you.”

The Firehawk’s lips tugged down into a grim frown, “What do you mean?”

“You're one of only known Sirens left on Pandora,” Vaughn pointed out. “I know you are… tied somehow to the Eridians. I've read what I could find on them - which wasn’t a lot and I couldn’t understand most of it, but we have info in some of the old Helios databases. Maybe you drew them. Like a beacon… with your Siren...ness.”

Lilith frowned, “Why should I believe a Hyperion toadie and a notorious con woman with an outrageously bull shit story?”

Vaughn says, “There is nothing you have that we want Lilith, I promise you. Zer0 still works with you, right? They were there when they disappeared. They saw them go into the Vault.”

“They’re not here right now.” She replied, imperiously.

“Ask them when you see them.” Sasha spoke up. “Just let us take these two and if they remember anything I'll tell you. They need medical attention and rest.”

Fiona lifted her chin with a good deal of effort, “As a con woman… if I were lying to you I'd sure as hell make up a way better story than this.” She stuffed the last morsel of food in her mouth.

Vaughn said, “I promise you… Nothing has changed in our agreements. You can ask any settlement on my side of the wastes and they’ll we’re doing good work out there. We’re helping people. Making a difference.”

Lilith frowned and made a decision. “Go, but next time any of you come to my city you let me know you’re coming. I don’t want any more suspicious skag shit.”

Sasha said, “Vaughn… There's no way we can leave immediately.  I don't think it's safe to have them handle hanging on to the Buzzard right now.”

Lilith rolled her eyes now. It seemed all she wanted was for them to leave and now they were even failing in that. She seemed to give up even on anger. “See if the hotel has a room… but notify me before you leave.

“Yes Ma’am,” Vaughn said. “I will most definitely do that.”

She turned to Mordecai and said, “See them out when they’re ready.” With that she left the room, throwing the door shut behind her with excessive violence.

Vaughn rubbed Rhys’ shoulder but let out a huge sigh of relief once she was gone. He looked to Mordecai, “I am… actually sorry this happened like this.”

Mordecai says, “It seems like it's working out fine. Just keep a low profile and don’t ever underestimate how much Lilith hates Hyperion. She’s never going to see you as anything but.”

“Yeah… nothing I can do about that,” Vaughn sighed. “Well… thank you. We’ll take our people and go. So you know, you’re always welcome back at Helios.”

“He’s not invited.” Rhys pointed at Brick. “You’re lucky I don’t have brain damage.”

Vaughn hushed him immediately.  

Brick took one step forward towards them. “There’s still time for that, little man. No one wants to visit your trash kingdom anyway, Hyperion.”

“Rhys, be nice.” Vaughn urged.

“Hey, Brick. Easy, man.” Mordecai stepped close to his companion and gave him a gentle pat on his immense bicep, “Go on.. I got this. I'll catch up with you in fewn”

Brick responded with a shrug of his massive shoulders, “Fine.”

Mordecai chuckled a little and looked down Vaughn, gesturing to Rhys once the big man was gone, “Your man here told Brick he’d never seen a bullymong alive before and didn’t know they were so ugly. I call that a deathwish.”

“Rhys,” Vaughn groaned.

Rhys lips twisted into a small smirk.

Sasha said, “Come on, Let’s get them out of here.” She helped her sister up again.

“Yeah…” Fiona took her little sister’s help and rose from her seat.

Vaughn bent down and simply picked Rhys up under his knees and behind his back. Lifting with his legs he hauled him up. “LB, can you help Sasha with Fi?”

“Affirmative.” Loader Bot replied and stepped to her other side to help her walk.

Mordecai lead them down the stairs and saw them outside of the compound. He bid them farewell, “Good luck, man. Try and keep those two out of trouble.”

“Hah. I'll do my best. Thanks again,” Vaughn gave him a weary smile and they headed down the street.

Rhys arms were weak around Vaughn’s neck. He started murmuring softly into his ear as they walked. His thoughts seemed to lose lucidity as they went on. “I love you so much... and I wish you were really here… but you can’t be, can you?” He didn’t give his lover time to reply before saying, “I’m nowhere. I’m never. And everything and nothing. And everything is nothing. My head hurts… my eye is… lagging. Damn it… I’m sorry.”

Vaughn grimaced and tried to soothe him. “It’s going to be okay. Just hang in there. I promise I’m real. I’ll get you some place safe to rest… and when we’re home we’ll run diagnostics on all your hardware.”

Fiona and Sasha were talking to each other as well though he couldn’t focus on them. Rhys consumed all his attention for the moment.

Slowly, they made their way down the confusing alleys and streets of Sanctuary towards the purple hotel sign.

“Am I bleeding?” Rhys asked. His brows were slanted in fear as lifted his hand to touch it to his port before looking at it. There was nothing there. “Huh.” He said, dreamily.

“No baby… no you’re not bleeding.” Vaughn assured him.

“Feels like… everything is spilling out.” Rhys added in a whisper.

“Vaughn,” Sasha’s voice cut through and he turned to her. “They have no vacancy.” She sighed.

Vaughn’s brow furrowed, “Dang it.” He looked past it to where Moxxi’s Sanctuary stood in all its seedy splendor. “Let’s try Moxxi’s, I guess.”

Sasha’s green eyes looked at him skeptically, “Are we really going to Moxxi’s… like… Mad Moxxi’s? I don’t know if that’s a good idea.”

Vaughn paused in walking. Rhys was heavy and he had not thought much farther ahead. “Why? Do you know her? I met her she seemed… you know… okay?” His nose wrinkled up. He found her more intimidating than the Siren.

“She’s kind of notorious on Pandora.” Sasha replied.

“Do we have any other options?” Vaughn was starting to flag under Rhys’ weight, but he’d be damned if he was going to set him down.

Rhys solved the matter by draping out of Vaughn’s arms to throw up.

“Shit.” Vaughn held him while he emptied his stomach on the ground. “It’s okay… we’ll get you some help.”

“Ok. Moxxi’s it is,” Sasha sighed.

The neon sign for MOXXXI’S with its kicking high heeled shoe was bright even though it was in full sunlight. The rundown bar looked clean by comparison to the city surrounding it though it oozed sleaze.

Mad Moxxi, the proprietor of the establishment, was standing there front and center as they stepped inside. She was, as ever, painted up like some sort of oversexed clown. The neckline of her purple coat plunged down to reveal her creamy white breasts. A jaunty purple hat was perched on top of her black hair.

She watched the pack of them as they crossed the room. “Welcome to Moxxxi’s.”

“Uh… Thanks,” Sasha said. Just across from the entry by the bar was a pair of booths. Sasha chose the one closest to the backroom door so they could keep an eye on the whole place from the corner.

They settled Rhys and Fiona into the seats and they weakly scooted in.

Rhys folded his arms and laid his head down on it. Loader Bot stood by the door to the back room, keeping an eye on the scant patrons of the bar. It seemed rather dead in the bar at this time of day. There was an ancient looking man in the back listening to some terrible old country music from a tinny radio.

Fiona was trying to force herself to stay awake and used her elbow to prop her head on her hand. Sasha slid in next to her.

“Ok, guys,” Vaughn said, “I’m going to go talk to her. Wish me luck.”

Moxxi had come to stand behind Vaughn at the far corner of the bar, though he did not hear her behind him until she spoke, “Do you think you have any luck where I’m concerned, Sugar?”

Vaughn turned, his face unable to hide the fact that he was startled, “Oh, no! I’m… no…” He pointed at Rhys, “My fiance and friend are unwell. We need help and thought maybe you might be able to help find us a room. We just need a place for 24 hours, tops.”

“I don’t run a charity.” She replied, cooly, her attention focused more on Loader Bot than on the small bandit.  

“Wouldn’t expect you to. I have cash.” Vaughn said.

“That robot with you. One of Jack’s, isn’t it? I’ve never seen that model before, but I can always tell Hyperion tech.” Moxxi said.

“Yeah.” Vaughn lowered his voice. “He’s a full AI, a modified loader bot, with no loyalties to the Hyperion Corporation. Only to my family.”

“Jack did love everything in yellow,” She rolled her eyes, “He always clashed with my outfits.”

“Please, Moxxi, I have money and other resources that I have access to. The Children of Helios don't forget those who help them in their time of need.”

“You mean Handsome Jack’s former groupies?” She snorted in derision.

“Yeah well, we’ve all turned over a new leaf.” Vaughn smiled though it came off a little strained.

That seemed to amuse her, “Maybe.... I heard what you did for Mordecai.” She looked at the two inert human lumps in her booth, “They look like they could use a meal.”

“They haven't eaten in… a long time. Do you have any food?” Vaughn anxiously glanced behind him.

“I have skag soup.” Moxxi said, “I’ll get them each a bowl of the broth. They shouldn’t be eating anything solid if they’re starving.”

“Whoops.” Fiona said, though she’d managed to keep down the protein bar.

Vaughn said, “That would be great. If my other friend and I could get a bowl of the soup too we would totally appreciate it. And… if you have clean water I’d take that… and a couple rakk ales.”

“Sure thing, Sugar.” She opened the bottles of ale and set on the counter along with the metal mugs filled with water before slipping off to the kitchen to get the soup.

Vaughn transferred the drinks to their table before he and slid in next to Rhys to help him sit up, “Sip some water.”

Rhys took several sips, finding himself still parched. A weak croak of, “Thanks,” followed.

“This is just a little setback,” Sasha said. “We’ll be back in our own territory soon.” She smiled at Vaughn with sense of triumph in spite of the present circumstances. She never wavered in her belief they would come back. She picked up her ale and took a long gulp from it.

“Yeah,” Vaughn agreed, “we’ll be home soon.”

When she had drank her fill of the ale Sasha passed the bottle to her sister.

Fiona drank the rest of it in one pull and belched as she set it down on the table. “It’s weird… it feels like it’s been a lifetime since I tasted anything.”

Rhys eyed Vaughn, seeming to expect that his beau would hand over his drink likewise.

Vaughn did but he only let him have a small drink before reclaiming it. “Go easy, Rhys.”

“It’s like someone’s in my brain kicking the back of my eyeballs.” Fiona groaned.

“That’s not… a possibility… is it?” Vaughn’s brows arched up towards his hairline.

“What, you think Eridians laid eggs in their brains?” Sasha enquired, nose wrinkled in disgust.

“No one laid anything in our brains!” Rhys grumbled before his voice wavered with uncertainty,  “Right?" He looked to Fiona. "Please tell me nothing laid eggs in our brains."

Fiona looked lost a moment before saying, “No point in freaking out about it. I don’t recall … much of anything.” Her eyes closed and she pinched the bridge of her nose.

Moxxi returned and set a bowl before each from a tray which she set on the bar counter. From between her her ample breasts she drew a vial containing two blue and red caplets, “Little something for their pain for a modest up charge. They look like they can use it.”

“Of course,” Vaughn said, “Thanks.” He reached out to take them. He placed one in front of Fiona and the other in front of Rhys.

“So the hotel says its full up,” Sasha said, drawing her spoon through the soup to examine the bits floating in the broth, “Can you think of anywhere else we could go?”

The water perked Rhys up enough he was able to swallow the pill and work on eating the broth.

“The hotel isn’t full. The owner is making a statement about your lack of welcome. People call him a bandit but everyone in the know knows he’s ex-Hyperion,” Moxxi gestured at Vaughn before settling one hand on her hip. “And this one definitely has the look of one of Jack’s boot lickers.” Moxxi fixed her gaze on Rhys.

“I'm not Jack’s anymore.” Rhys muttered. “Jack was a monster.”

Moxxi smiled impressively, “If you say so, Sugar.” She leaned on the end of their booth casually.

“You aren't afraid to be seen helping us?” Vaughn asked, his hand going to Rhys’ thigh.

Moxxi replied, “I am not afraid of nearly anything. Besides helping my ex, rumor has it you all were responsible for bringing down Helios… so you can’t be all bad. It must have made Jack spin in his grave.”

“Something like that,” Rhys observed dryly before carefully feeding himself a spoonful of broth.

“There’s just one thing I want to know.” She leaned forward now, menacing for all her earlier hospitality, “Was my son with you when he died?”

Vaughn could feel his jaw dropping open, but said nothing.

Rhys leaned forward and closed his eyes, his head bowing.

Sasha grimaced, before her expression turned sad.

Fiona looked up at Moxxi, her verdant eyes melancholy, “Scooter. He was your son? I’m… so sorry. I didn’t know.”

Vaughn kept his silence. He felt badly for what happened to Scooter, but he wasn’t there like the others were. It wasn’t his story to tell.

“I’ve been told he came with your little Helios sabotage expedition as a mechanic and never came back,” Moxxi’s voice was controlled, but only barely.

“I was with him,” Fiona said, seeming more weary and tired now than she had been before. She set her spoon down and leaned against her sister. “He insisted on going with us in case there were any mechanical problems with our rockets. There was a problem with the engines. He and I had to go out and detach them… but he got stuck to one. It was going to explode and take us all with them. Calmly, he told me what I had to do to to free them. He… he died so we could live.”

Though a hard woman and one who seemed little given to sentiment, tears started in the corner of her eyes as she straightened up.

Rhys spoke up, saying with sincerity, “We won’t ever forget how great a guy he was. He’s the real hero out of the whole sorry thing. Without him we’d have just been... space debris. We never would have gotten to Helios.”

Sasha felt the need to speak as well, “He was a good friend to us and he never had any reason to be. He helped us fix our car after this death race we were in and then helped us again when we needed a rocket.”

“Nice guys always get themselves killed,” she sighed and was quiet another long moment. She turned away from them.

“He died a Hero.” Fiona said. “I know that’s small comfort. He died taking out Helios when he could have stayed home, safe. We owe him everything.”

Abruptly, Moxxi resumed her more business-like demeanor, “I have an apartment… it’s not where I live, but I’m the landlady. It’s currently unoccupied. I could be persuaded to give it to you at $400 a day.”

“Thank you so much. We’ll take it. Probably just a day… what’s the total with the food, drink and everything else?” asked Vaughn.

“$450.00,” Moxxi said, stretching her hand out to him.

Vaughn reached into his pocket and removed his wallet. He withdrew the cash, handing her an even $600.00 in bills before saying, “Keep the change.”

It was unclear where the key came from, but abruptly it was in Moxxi’s hand and she was pushing it into his.  “I like a man with a big tip.” She winked at him.

Vaughn cleared his throat and said, “If you ever need anything, just send us word.”

“You can count on that, Sugar.” She winked at him. After that she disappeared quickly into the back room and did not reemerge again as long as they were there finishing their meal.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang goes to rest at their rented lodgings in Sanctuary. Vaughn finds his emotions running high.

After eating, Vaughn got one of Moxxi's employees to give them directions to the apartment since she had failed to do so before making her exit. They made their way through Sanctuary with relatively little trouble though they got nothing but surly looks from most of the natives.

Fiona walked, aided by her sister while Rhys allowed Vaughn to carry him. Loader Bot kept watch from the rear, ready to pull his gun at any sight of trouble.

The apartment Moxxi rented them was small, with faded brick red paint on the walls. One room served as a combination living, dining, and kitchen area that was separated by a counter with three stools. There was a short hallway with a door leading to the bedroom and one leading to a small dingy bathroom.  

LB walked in first and investigated the perimeter of the small apartment, taking note of entry points. He pointed his gun into the bathroom then the bedroom, to make sure there were no surprises visitors. “It appears safe.” He said when he returned.

Fiona leaned against the wall while Sasha chained, bolted, and barred the door before moving to draw the curtain over a small window. “Doesn't look too bad,”  she said.

“Baby.” Vaughn said, jostling Rhys lightly, “We need your help, but just for a minute. Rhys. Bro?”

“Let him sleep,” Fiona interjected insistently.

Rhys eyes opened to slits that he struggled to open any wider. “Huh? I’m awake. What?”

“Can you do a few scans with your Echo eye? Or is the lag too bad?” Vaughn asked softly. “I just want to make sure we don’t have any surprises.”

“It didn’t work there, in the Vault,” Fiona said; stepping forward unaided to walk to Rhys’ side. “I don’t think it’s a good idea.”

“I just want us to be safe.” Vaughn replied, bristling at the thought of her trying to protect Rhys from him.

“It’s okay Fiona,” Rhys cut her off. “I think I can do it. Put me down, Please.”

Fiona stayed at his other side but said nothing at being shut down.  
Vaughn set him on his feet but kept an arm around him. He was too unsteady to be left to his own power in the accountant’s opinion.

Rh’s brow furrowed in concentration and after a moment the lines in his iris fired up with a yellow glow as he scanned the room. “So… the wiring is only a couple steps below fire hazard, but nothing… nothing out of ordinary.” He leaned back against Vaughn wearily.

“Sounds like it will hold for the night.” Sasha said. She put a hand on her sister’s back and lead her into the bedroom.

“Thank you, bro. Let’s get you into bed.” Vaughn smiled as he walked him through the living room to the bed and eased him onto it. It was too hot to sleep with covers and they were probably better left on the bed to cover whatever horrors lurked on the mattress.

Rhys’ eyes closed as he turned on his side and curled up. Abruptly he was asleep.

Fiona followed suit and sat down on the bed before turning onto her side to spoon up against Rhys’ back. Automatically, she slid her arm around his waist and cuddled close to him with easy familiarity.

Vaughn could feel emotions bubbling up that he struggled to define. He ached with relief, grief for lost time and a small twinge of jealousy at the bond they so clearly shared now.  Paradoxically he felt glad to know that the two had one another to depend on. Rhys did not do well alone. Pushing the feelings down he stretched out his hand and slid his finger over Rhys’ hair reverently.

Sasha sat on the edge of the bed by Fiona. “Do you need anything before you sleep?”

“No. Just need sleep.” Fiona said, “I love you guys.”

“I love you too, sis.”

“Ditto.” Vaughn said, “Love you all too.”

Fiona lifted her head and smiled at Sasha, “You get rest too.”

“I will.” Sasha gave Fiona’s shoulder a pat.

Fiona pushed her face against the back of Rhys’ neck and breathed in and out deeply.

Sasha and Vaughn’s eyes met after looking at the way they lay together and immediately both seemed to feel awkward and looked away again. They lingered there in uncomfortable silence until at last Vaughn turned away and stepped into the living room.

All day he had things to do to keep him occupied, but now that they were seemingly safe for resting he felt stricken by the intensity of his emotions.  It seemed like they had suddenly awakened after months of alternate numbness and despair. Just as Rhys had disappeared from his life suddenly he was now equally suddenly returned to him. Did they just pick up everything like it was before or had things changed? He knew he was putting the cart before the horse but he was beset on all sides by worry. Thoughts raced through his head, overwhelming him.  

Sasha left the door to the bedroom open a crack and followed him out to the living area sounding triumphant. “I told you we would get them back.” She did not look smug, however, only weary.

“You were right and… I’ve never been happier to be wrong.” Vaughn thumped down on the grubby couch and sighed in exhaustion. He leaned his head back against the couch back and stared up at the metal ceiling tiles.

Sasha folded her arms at him and declared, “It’s hard being so right all the time.” Her head cocked to one side as she  looked down at him with a hard expression and asked, “So are you going to stop avoiding me now? Don’t think I haven’t noticed.”

Vaughn shrank against the couch. He dropped his hands in his lap and looked down at them. “Yeah…  I mean, I never meant to. I’ve been in a… really bad place. It wasn’t just you. Yvette, too... and everyone, really. I’m sorry.”

“I was trying to be positive for you.” She unfolded her arms to gesture in his direction. “It killed me to see you lose hope.”

Vaughn looked away from her and his jaw clenched tightly before he said, “I’ve… I’ve not been doing so well. I think… I was shutting down. I was tired of it all. It’s been so hard.” Vaughn closed his eyes. The admission was a hard one to make because until earlier in the day he had been working on convincing himself that he was still fine, when every passing day was revealing just how poor his self care had become. “It was hard to do anything other than focus on the colony.”

“He has been emotionally absent,” LB observed.  “Gortys and I have been most concerned.”

“I wasn’t trying to guilt you,” Sasha said, but upon further review she amended, “Well, okay, I was a little bit, but… it hurt me. I left August and came back out to Helios because you weren’t returning my messages. I’ve been worried sick about you. I was there for like three cycles and you still hadn’t made time for me. You kept putting me off and putting me off.”

Vaughn was paralyzed by the guilt on top of everything else twisting and racing in his thoughts. All he could do was look up at her with sad eyes which abruptly filled with tears.

The younger con artist backtracked quickly, “Aww Vaughn…” Sasha settled next to him to put an arm around his shoulder. “It’s all good. We have them back. That’s what matters, right? That our family is whole again. We’re going to get them home safe and everything is going to be fine.”

He only responded by fully leaning into her half hug and making it a full one as he sobbed brokenly against her shoulder.

Sasha closed him up in her arms and said, “Stop it or I’m going to start crying too.” Only to be followed a moment later with a shaky, “Damn it,” as her own tears made wet tracks down her cheeks.

They both took a few moments to cry though the pain of it all, clinging tightly to each other as they had months before in the beginning.

“You were strong a long time. I know it was hard,” Sasha said, sniffling. “I didn’t mean to make you so upset. I’m sorry.”  

“Thank you Sasha… I’m sorry too.” He hated crying but it was cleansing to get it all out of his system.

“It’s okay. We’re both… just… this is a lot to deal with.” She smiled, eyes still streaming.

Loader Bot walked to where they sat and bent down to put a metal hand on each one’s shoulder to squeeze faintly with his metal fingers. “You both need to sleep as well. Rest and I will keep watch. It is best that we return to the base as soon as possible.”

“Yeah,” Vaughn agreed as he pulled back from Sasha, blotting his eyes with the sleeve of his robes and sniffling, “That’s a good idea. Thanks, LB.” He held out his fist and the robot obligingly fist bumped him in return.

Sasha dabbed her sleeve against each eye. “I'll sleep on the couch. You can squeeze in by Rhys on the bed.”

“Are you sure?” Vaughn said, nervously. He wasn’t proud of it, but he wiped his nose on the back of his sleeve, still sniffing hard to try to stop it from running so much. “I can sleep on the couch.”

Waving him towards the room she said, “Go. I can sleep anywhere and I know you want to be by him.”

“Thanks,” He said as he rose and turned away only for her to clear her throat. He turned back around and she was holding out her fist to him. With a big smile he bumped his against it. “Good night.”  

“Good night.” She smiled and took off her jacket to fold up as a pillow.

The small bedroom was quiet save for the breathing of the sleeping pair. He took off his robes and chest plate and slid into the bed on his lovers unoccupied other side. The room was dimly lit, and he spent a long time just staring into Rhys’ face. He lay awake a long while, admiring the details of him. He looked peaceful as he slept. In time his eyes grew heavy and the closed them, drifting off to sleep.

Though troubling, his dreams never woke him. What did was the sound of voices from the other room and the smell of rich, buttery foods being fried in the kitchen mingled with the the scent of brewing coffee.

Rhys was nestled up against his chest, a heavy arm around Vaughn’s waist and his long legs clamped over around the smaller man’s.  

Vaughn could hear the voices of the girls in the other room talking quietly so he buried his nose in Rhys’ hair and inhaled deeply. Embarrassment came over him when he realized Rhys was awake.

“Morning… or whatever,” Rhys said as he shifted against the mattress.

“Hey… you're awake. I was having a dream that I was still alone. That you weren’t… really back. I hate dreams lately. I’m glad you’re here.”

“My dreams,” Rhys closed his eyes and shuddered. “Let’s not talk about dreams. I missed you.”

“I missed you, too. How are you feeling?” Vaughn put a hand on Rhys’ shoulder high up by his neck and kneaded it softly.

“A bit like I’ve been run over by a truck,” Rhys grumbled, “But… okay. Okay enough to fly home...I think.”

“Wait and see how you feel.” He stroked his hand up and down Rhys’ back, so happy just to hold him and smell him. “You could barely keep on your feet yesterday.”

“Yeah. I… I feel okay right now. It would be better… if my eye weren’t so glitchy.” He wouldn’t meet Vaughn’s eyes for long, instead dropping it to his chest.

“I thought you could deactivate it, for some sort of hard reboot.” Vaughn had read more of the instruction manual on Rhys’ cybernetics than the man who had them in his own body ever bothered to.

“I can… but I won’t be able to restart it until we’re home. We might need it.” He pressed his forehead against Vaughn’s chest.

Vaughn cuddled him close, stroking the back of his neck. “We can make it without you needing to scan. If it will make it easier for you to focus on keeping consciousness, then you absolutely should do it. How about the arm, will it be affected?”

Rhys spread his robotic fingers and pulled his head back. “No.” Rhys carefully sat up. “I’ll do it just… don’t… look at me.”

“Okay,” Vaughn sat up as well and turned away, giving him his privacy.

“How is everyone?” Rhys asked .

“Good… Yvette and gortys send their love. They can’t wait for you to be home safe.” He kept his back to Rhys.

“You look thinner.” Rhys observed.

“Yeah. I… might have lost a few pounds.” Vaughn shrugged as he put his hands together to wring them together, “I’ve been really busy. Things at Helios are… always busy. It’s nothing to worry about.”

Rhys’ voice was soft, “Vaughn... I’ll make this up to you. Some day.”

“Nothing to make up,” Vaughn rose from the bed.

Rhys made no reply to that statement. After a moment he declared, “I have to pee. You can look at me now.”

“Alright. It smells like Sasha’s made breakfast.” Turning around, he offered Rhys his hand.

Rhys’ golden eye no longer tracked movement. The iris and pupil hung uselessly down near his bottom eyelid. As soon as he saw his partner looking at it he closed the eye. With Vaughn’s help he rose and they shared a tender hug until nature called and he pulled away.

“You sure you’re steady?” Vaughn asked, squinting at him.  

“Yeah… and hungry. I am so hungry.” He walked out to the hallway and opened the bathroom door. After flipping on the light he peered into it. With his face wrinkled up in disgust he stepped inside and closed the door.

“Call if you need me!” Vaughn raised his voice to talk through the door. “I’ll be just out here and can help. Okay? Rhys?”

“I can't pee if you're talking to me!” Rhys sounded annoyed. “I’m fine. Go away.”

“Sorry!” Vaughn called. He headed into the main room and smiled at the girls.

Fiona was sitting on the couch already working her way through one of Sasha’s fried egg sandwiches, with little to no concern for upsetting her stomach. Hers was not nearly so weak as Rhys’.

Vaughn supposed that is what happens when you grow up eating whatever’s available on Pandora. It had taken him a while to grow used to the food available on the planet.

Sasha looked refreshed from her slumber. She had washed up, dressed and  was now working in the kitchen. Her green eyes turned to Vaughn from where she was finishing a sandwich, “Breakfast?”

“Yeah,” Vaughn said as he wiped the crust of sleep from his eyes. “I’d appreciate it. Smells good.”

“Thanks. Did you sleep okay?” She plopped his sandwich onto a simple metal plate and handed it over to him before starting a new one.

“Yeah. You?”

“I’ve slept in worse conditions,” She replied. “It was alright.”

Rhys exited the bathroom after washing his hands. He lumbered over to the small counter and sat down at the chair across from where Sasha was frying.

“You want real food, Rhys?” Sasha enquired. “If not I have a thermos of  soup.”

Rhys held his echo eye closed, “I’m okay with a sandwich and I’d uh, really like a cup of that coffee. Thank you.”

Vaughn said, “It looks done. Everyone want a cup?” He slid his untouched sandwich in front of Rhys and walked to the ancient coffee pot that was spreading fragrant steam throughout the room.

“I’d love coffee.” Fiona said, talking with her mouth full. She was not normally prone to that, but Vaughn understood that sometimes coffee was just that exciting.

“You know I need one too,” Sasha quipped as she slid the sandwich around the pan with aromatic sizzling.

Rhys took an experimental nibble from his sandwich. “This… tastes so good. Thanks Sasha.”

“You’re welcome.” She said in her most cheerful and chipper voice. “Just wait until you guys have the food on Helios. Vaughn arranged some supply drops and they have foods I haven’t ever tried before.”

Vaughn inspected the mugs  before he began rinsing them out before pouring four cups of coffee. “Yeah. We got some comfort foods.”

Rhys looked surprised, “Wow a supply drop. How much did that cost?”

“Don’t worry about that now,” Vaughn said, softly.

“Can’t wait,” Fiona said. “I’m going to eat everything in sight, like a Rakk Hive in heat.”

Vaughn asked, “Where did this food come from, anyway?”  

Sasha said, “I walked up to Moxxi’s and paid her for some groceries. She didn’t poison us last night so I figure she won’t now.” She shrugged.

Fiona said, “I’m not dying. I think we’re good.” The thumbs up followed.

“There’s little sugar packets if anyone needs them,” Sasha said while plating another sandwich and setting it on the counter by the coffee machine.

“”I’ll take sugar!” Fiona said.

“Me too.” Rhys echoed.

Sasha tossed more butter in the pan and lay down the bottom slice for the last sandwich while Vaughn dumped two packets into Rhys and Fiona’s cups and stirred them in with a plastic spoon. After delivering everyone’s drink he picked up his own cup of black coffee and sipped from it.

Rhys picked up his mug with both hands and blew on it. When he finally sipped it he made a soft mmmmm of pleasure.

“So…” Vaughn settled next to his partner at the counter and broke up his sandwich with the provided spoon forks so it would cool faster. “We finish eating… we make sure everyone’s food has settled and our rendezvous is in place and we fly back home?”

Sasha watched the final sandwich in the pan carefully. “The sooner we're out of here the better.”

“Home.” Rhys said, like he was pondering the meaning of the very word itself.

“By the way guys,” Sasha said, “I talked a little bit more with Moxxi this morning. She asked me a favor… since you offered her one.” She looked, in particular at Vaughn.

“What’s that?” Vaughn asked, a bit timidly.

“She wants Fiona and Rhys to tell Scooter’s sister what happened to him,” Sasha said, solemnly. “Her name is Ellie. I guess she’s also a mechanic… she lives out by Bug Gulch in the Dust.”

“I already agreed,” Fiona said looking over at Rhys. “It only seems right.”

Rhys said, “Yeah… I’ll do it.” After that he said little until they all agreed they were ready to travel.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaughn brings Rhys and Fiona home safe to Helios and starts the process of getting them eased into the sea of changes.

When Helios came into view over the horizon Vaughn breathed out a sigh of relief to be home.

The Children of Helios were amassed in the courtyard in front of the entrance. They began cheering when the convoy of three buzzards came into view over the ridge.                                                                     

They looked less tribal now than they had for their first months of life on Pandora, but not entirely so. Most had new clothes and their new style reflected the facts of life of life in a desert. There was a lot of tough denim and sensible, breathable fabrics. A scattered few seemed to have gone a little more native with outlandishly individualistic outfits and hairstyles, but most seemed to have settled into a flowy business casual.

Rhys’ teeth clenched as he saw the way they were gathered which turned to reverential bowing when they landed. He took Vaughn’s arm, leaning on him a little heavily at the start. With the roaring engines on the Buzzards cut off the cheering could be heard.

“Are you strong enough to walk? I could carry you.” Vaughn offered, cautiously. Rhys’ pride was a fickle thing.

 “No.” Rhys said harshly, before softening, “Thank you, but let me walk.”

 Vaughn nodded, “Okay. Do you want to got to see the doctor straight off or go to our… place.”

 “Home,” Rhys said. “Please, home first. I can’t… deal with poking right now.”

 Vaughn nodded. “Home it is.”

 Fiona held Sasha’s hand as they walked towards the interior of the ruined base. “Wow, they've gotten even more annoying.”

Vaughn could only imagine how much different it must look to Rhys and Fiona. There had been so many changes made since they received the first supply drop. What had been piles of trash had been transformed into more functional walls, the tops of which had automated turret systems in operation that kept an eye on the dangerous desert.

Fiona squinted as she looked around, “Those guys in black and orange… with the guns. Who are they?” She pointed to a pair of men nearby with watching over the crowd intently.

“Yeah,” Vaughn said, “So those guys are the new security team. The uh… uniforms are subject to change. We just needed to give them something… you know… to make them more uniform… to make sure you could tell them apart from everyone else when on duty.” He rambled on, nervously. He really did not want to explain all the things he had done to Rhys here.

“That’s the definition of a uniform.” Sasha grinned.

“It is. Oh! We also have some new… uh… settlers. There’s a few families that have joined us. A few old Dahl and Atlas employees have turned up. Some _natives_ and some reformed bandits have joined us too. We vet them as best we can.”

Fiona said, “You’ve got resources, protection and I’m sure everyone knows you have the functional Eye of Helios by now. It looks pretty secure… for Pandora. Small wonder anyone would want to stay here.”

“Thanks. There’s been growing pains, for sure, but no serious incidents. The Children of Helios are really big on verbal conflict resolution.”

Rhys took it all in with a frown. In the thick of the crowd he stopped, snapping, “Stop it! Stop bowing!” His voice cracked as he forced out the words, “Have you learned nothing? Don't worship people! They _always_ let you down.”

There seemed to be disagreement on how to proceed amongst the children. Some sheepishly stopped the bowing, while others kept at it with zeal strengthened by their leader’s passion.

“You defeated the ghost of Handsome Jack! ” a man shouted from the throng.

“I brought him back in the first place!” Rhys roared, metal hand balled into a fist.

Fiona moved closer to Rhys, putting a hand on his back.

“Come on, Rhys, Please,” Vaughn said as he tried to nudge him forward. This was clearly all a bit much for him.

An insistent voice cut through the crowd as Yvette appeared,  “Thank you all for coming out but Rhys looks _very_ tired. We’re all excited to see him, but he needs his space and you all have better things to do than gawking.” Yvette strode up to her old friend.

“I’m tired of being worshipped for destruction, Yvette. I didn't free them! I chained them to this,” Rhys’ metal fist balled up and he shook it.

Vaughn squeezed his arm, “You need to calm down.”

The Children of Helios started to awkwardly return to whatever they were doing previously, a number of them filing back inside the main structure.

Yvette came close to him and hugged Rhys. Her voice was soft for him, though there was a sternness, “ _Rhys_. That is not helping anything. We’re all happy to see you.”

He squeezed her back tighter, silently.

“Let Vaughn take you to your room,” she murmured. “I’ll come by later when I’m done with work.”

His anger melted down into sadness, “Okay… I missed you too. I’m just … tired. I don’t feel well.”

She smiled and squeezed his flesh fingers in her own hand before letting him go. “It’s okay. You get some rest and call me when you’re ready to talk, okay?”

“Okay.” He nodded, like a tired child that was more than fine with being told to go to bed.

Yvette patted his cheek and left him back to Vaughn’s care before hugging Fiona. “It’s been way less lively without _you_ around.”

Fiona was a little surprised by the hug, but warmly returned it, “Thank you. I have to sleep for about 12 hours, but come by and talk to me later. We have a lot to catch up on.”

“I’ll get you a new com issued and you can call me when you’re free.” Yvette smiled at her.

Fiona nodded and said “Thank you. It’s good to see you.” Her eyes were heavily lidded.  

Sasha said to group, “I’m going to take Fiona to her room. We’ll talk to you guys a little later.”

“Sounds good.” Vaughn said.

Leaning close Yvette said to Vaughn, “Call me if you need anything.”

“You know I will.” He gave her a tired smile.

Rhys looked to Fiona with eyes sad and haunted, “So… Goodbye.” He looked down into her eyes and they abruptly hugged each other.

“See you later.” She lay her head against his shoulder.

They held each other uncomfortably long before Vaughn took Rhys arm, leading him away to their new lodgings.

Vaughn tried to squash the jealousy that was blindsiding him. It was inappropriate. He knew that Rhys and Fiona had been through an ordeal together. It was only natural that after so long with each other they would have trouble parting.

Rhys took Vaughns hand and they walked, confusion in his voice when they headed down an unfamiliar corridor. “Where are we going?”

“Oh… Yeah. We got a new place while you were gone. It’s… nicer. More like an apartment. A little more room.”

“Oh, wow… Vaughn. You’ve been busy.” Rhys brows had climbed high in surprise.

Vaughn unlocked the door for them and lead Rhys inside. “Yeah. This isn't even the half of it.” His laugh came off far too anxious.

Gortys was waiting just inside the doorway to ambush them as soon as it opened. She rolled up to Rhys and wrapped her metal arms around his long legs, “Rhys! You’re back! I missed you sooooo much!”

“Gortys!” Rhys’ lips pulled up into a radiant smile as he reached down to place his metal hand on top of her head. “It’s so good to see you.”

She released him and rolled over to the couch to pat the cushion, “Come and sit! You live here now! Isn’t it great?”

Vaughn helped him to a seat and sat next to him. He was ambivalent on if he should be giving him space or crowding him. In the end he wound up putting an arm around Rhys’ shoulder.

Rhys looked like he was going to say something, before he dropped his face into his hands. With a shake of his shoulders, he started to shake and cry.

Gortys patted his knee gently, her blue eye display turning to sad blue slants, “It’ll be ok, Rhys.” She said. “We’re all together again and Vaughn has done _so_ much with Atlas. You're going to love it.”

Rhys looked up and turned to his partner. His brows lifted and he sniffled, “Really? You’ve been running Atlas?”

Vaughn looked in Rhys’ eyes in spite of his anxiety and said, “Yeah… I have Atlas weaponry back on the market. I hope… I hope it's okay. I... I did it for you,” he stammered.

Gortys added, “Loader bot and I have been helping!”

Rhys suppressed the crying long say, “I’m sure you’re doing great, Gortys. I really love you guys.” He sobbed softly, “Thank you.”

Vaughn rubbed his leg gently and said, “I always have your back. I’ve been out of my mind without you. The Atlas stuff really helped occupy my time.” He grimaced, “Just please don’t be mad at me if I messed anything up. I’ll show you all the data and numbers tomorrow. Today, I just want you to relax.”

Rhys awkwardly threw himself against Vaughn’s shoulder, jabbing him painfully with his pointy chin and cried into his shoulder, wordless.

Loader Bot said, “I will take Gortys to see Fiona before she rests.” 

“Awesome! I miss her so much too! I hope she bought me a souvenir from the alternate dimension!” She gave Rhys a final pat, “Take good care of him Vaughn.”

Vaughn held Rhys close and stroked his hair. “I will… and thank you for everything, LB.”

“Don’t mention it.” Loader bot gave him a thumbs up.

Gortys wheeled her way out the door and he shut it behind himself. 

Vaughn held him close, “I know this is a lot to take in, but you're safe now. We're okay.”

Rhys nodded against him, but never seemed to regain the will or ability to speak. Eventually he lapsed straight from sniffling into a deep sleep.

Vaughn took his time, carefully transferring Rhys to the bed. When he was resting he called down to the Medical Unit to arrange for one of the doctors to be on hand. Afterwards his dialed Yvette from the comfort of his home office and settled into his computer chair.

“Hi. How’s he doing?” Yvette asked. The incessant clicking of her keyboard could be heard in the background. A consummate multitasker, Yvette never did one thing when she could do two.

“He’s… pretty emotional.” Vaughn sighed as he leaned back in his desk chair, “We really didn’t get much time to talk before he needed to sleep and as soon as he’s up I’m going to take him for a medical evaluation.”

“Good idea.” She agreed. “He looks pretty beat. Can I do something in particular for you or is this just an update? Not to be rude, but I have a call soon regarding that big distribution contract.”

“Well... I’m trying to put together some numbers to catch Rhys up… a little ‘state of the company’ report type thing.”

Yvette sounded amused, “I’ve got you covered. Since I was here waiting, I started a point presentation for him. I have a bunch of slides so far for you to add on to… general operations, structure, employee files, drop ship schedules, product lists and purchasing data. That sort of thing. I just sent it to you.”

Vaughn’s inbox flashed and he clicked on the message to it to click through the slides. “Oh my God, Yvette. 157 slides? I think he just needs a basic overview for now. Can we pare that down?”

She made a drawn out hmmmmmmmm as she considered it, “I tell you what. You send me all your pretty little numbers and I’ll rework this into a few separate modules. A basic overview and then more in depth information departmentally.”

“You are amazing. You know I never could have done any of this without you.” Vaughn said.

“Team Atlas gets things done,” she said warmly.

“We did okay, didn’t we?” Vaughn asked.

“I can’t believe you are even worried. We’ve been working our asses off and we’ve done nothing but good things… mostly nothing but good things. Get me those numbers asap and by the time Rhys is ready to take the helm he’ll have all the information he needs.”

“Sweet. Doing it right now.” Vaughn started clicking away to transfer the data. “I’m sorry I’ve super... distant lately.”

“Pshhh, stop it. I’m not even upset. You held up really good considering everything. Hey… my other call has come in. We’ll talk later, okay?”

“Sweet. _Thanks_.” Vaughn exhaled in relief as she dropped off of the line.

An hour later he was still working when he heard Rhys call out from the hallway.

“Vaughn? Vaughn! Where are you?” Rhys voice carried through the apartment full of terrified urgency.

“Coming bro!” Vaughn shot up from his desk and rushed towards the bedroom. Rhys was standing in the hall looking lost. He took the metal hand in his and pulled Rhys into a hug. “What's the matter?”

“I don't know… I thought you were gone… I'm sorry.” His face flushed, embarrassed by his panic. “Nothing’s familiar. I got super freaked out… but I’m fine…”

“Fine?”  Vaughn looked skeptical.

“Yeah,” he breathed out, his face turning away.

Vaughn held him tight. “I got you fresh clothes ready. Do you want to take a shower before we go to the Med Lab to have the doctor look at you. We gotta run those scans.”

“We have showers?” Rhys straightened, pulling out of the hug. “And a Med Lab?”

“Yeah. The showers are communal.” With a hand on the small of Rhys’ back he lead him back to their bedroom. He settled Rhys into a comfortable chair and moved towards the bathroom, “This place is too smashed for a large restructuring so it made more sense to make a centralized shower system. It is the biggest improvement to morale since… well since you coming back.”

“Wow.” Rhys said before going quiet again.

“I have all your favorite grooming stuff for you. Your hair gel, your shampoo and conditioner. The kind of toothbrush you like.” Vaughn smiled shyly out the door.

Rhys looked touched, “Since you found me?”

Vaughn felt his jaw going tight against his will, “Since we got supply ships… I’ve been collecting things for you. It was kind of a magical thinking thing… You know… ‘he's gotta come back if I have a good enough offering.’” He got out a duffel bag and stuffed it full of toiletries.

“I'm… I'm a lot overwhelmed. This apartment… Atlas. I’m sorry I lost it.” Rhys smiled wanly, his unclosed eye looking to the floor.

“We’ve got plenty of time now for you to… take it all in.” Vaughn said in encouragement. “Is it hard, being off the echo net?”

“It feels like… part of me is missing.” Rhys rubbed at his closed eye. “And my depth perception _blows_ with one eye.”

“How’s your head?” He closed up the bag and shouldered it before grabbing a simple outfit for himself out of his dresser.

“Achy… but not so bad.” Rhys lifted his left arm and sniffed at his armpit; lips curling into a disgust. “It feels like it's been years since I showered. Let’s go do that.”

 ____________________

Vaughn made sure the men’s shower was clear and appointed a guard for the door to make sure no one else entered for now. Power held some privileges. He unpacked the stuff he brought, placing Rhys’ things in one shower stall and his in another before undressing,  “If you need help… let me know.”

Rhys undressed himself shyly. “I will.” He seemed like he was uncomfortable being naked.

Like a gentleman, Vaughn kept his eyes away and entered his own shower stall and turned the knob. It was his intent to shower quickly. It felt good to wash off the dust of the road, but he wanted to be available to assist his partner.

“You know, you looked really cool,” Rhys broke the quiet.

“Did I?” He did not give Rhys time to answer, “I couldn’t leave you there with them. Sanctuary isn’t especially safe for us. Even with Hyperion so long gone from Pandora, things are still super fresh in their minds.”

“Hard to blame them.” Rhys added, “You really did look cool. Just in charge. Commanding. Maybe… you could come over here, for a bit?”

Vaughn grinned, “Just let me rinse out my hair.” He did so quickly and turned off the water before rushing around into the next stall.

Rhys was leaning against the divider, letting the water rush over his too lean frame. As soon as Vaughn drew near Rhys leaned down and put his arms around him to kiss him.

Vaughn’s cock couldn’t help itself. It immediately stood at attention as he slid his wet hands up and down Rhys’ back and joined their lips. The kiss was only broken long enough so that he could say “You have no idea… how much I missed you. 

“Show me.” Rhys looked at him with unabashed longing. He still kept his left eye closed to cover the disabled hardware.

“Are you sure?” Vaughn’s palm slid down to his lover’s ass and gave it a squeeze, fingers curling against the under curve of his cheek to tease them apart.  

“Just make me yours again.” Rhys looked so needy as he turned away from Vaughn and leaned forward, spreading his legs so he could stick out his ass.

“Rhys… we… can’t… not in the shower.” It was so hard being the reasonable one all the time. “You’re too tall, and I don’t want to hurt you on accident. You could slip.”

Turning back around, Rhys leaned his back against the wall and grabbed Vaughn pulling him close by his shoulders. He reached his flesh hand down and gripped Vaughn’s cock, guiding it between his thighs.

“Ohhhhh ho!” Vaughn looked up at Rhys with a sly grin. “Hmmmmmmm that’s… doable.” He chuckled as put one hand on Rhys’ hip while the other took hold of that cock he had missed so much to stroke it sensuously. “God you feel so good just like this.” It wasn’t as tight as penetrative sex, but there would be plenty of time for that. For now, this nice intercrural thrusting would satisfy him.

The shower felt so good with nice warm water creating gentle steam. It left no need for further lubrication.  Rhys didn’t seem to mind that it was slightly awkward. He put both his arms around Vaughn’s shoulders and craned his neck down to kiss him hard on the mouth.

With a soft moan, Vaughn squeezed the erection in his hand stroking it masterfully. He paused just to circle the head with his calloused thumb.  

“I love you so much,” Rhys said. “I’m sorry I disappeared.” He sounded on the verge of emotion again.

“Shhh, I know,” He spoke with gentle reassurance, “Don’t worry about that now, Okay? I love you too. So much… I’m just so glad you’re here with me.” He worked his hips faster and started to kiss up Rhys’ tattooed chest. His mouth found the pink nipple in the sea of blue and tickled it with his tongue.

Rhys leaned his head back against the metal partition, his eyes closing as he moaned in pleasure. “Fuck, Vaughn… It feels so good.”

“This is just a taste, a little... tiny... lick,” Vaughn sped up his sensuous strokes while giving Rhys’ nipple a lap with his tongue, “Of all the things I am going to do to you once you’re feeling better.” The stroking resumed, faster and more intense now. He truly was worried about wearing Rhys out even with this small bit of action.

“Yes… _please_ …” Rhys’ gave a strangled cry of bliss and came into Vaughn’s expert hand. His arms tightened around Vaughn’s neck. As soon as he could think again he put his lips to Vaughn’s cheek and kissed it.

Vaughn grabbed Rhys’ other hip with his hand, releasing his boyfriend’s softening cock. “Tell me again… how good I looked.”

Rhys chuckled lowly with lips by Vaughn’s ear, “Soooo hot. My super stud, ass-kicking bandit boyfriend. Just showing up all cool and collected like that. So hot. I’d have let you fuck me on their stupid strategy table.”

Vaughn moaned, hips bucking forward, clenched tight between slick thighs. “All for you, Rhys.”

Rhys’ tongue trailed along the shell of his ear which broke the last bit of resistance in him and the waves of release washed over him as Rhys hummed in his ear.  

They both leaned against the divider and breathed until Vaughn spoke, “Don’t ever leave me again.”

Rhys nodded, his adams apple bobbing as he swallowed, “Never… never ever.”

Vaughn gave him a quick kiss and straightened.

They finished showering without talking much and began going through their morning routines. It felt odd- familiar but strange.

The silence was comfortable, though Vaughn had a sense that Rhys still seemed troubled.

He was putting on a pair of fresh blue jeans and a teal V necked T shirt while Rhys spent an absurdly long time flossing and brushing his teeth. “You just… take your time and tell me what you need.”

Rhys rinsed out his mouth and spit. “I'll try.” He went quiet again.

Keeping his own silence was hard. Vaughn had so many questions that would have to wait. Rhys was clearly in pain and now what he needed most was gentleness and patience so he brushed out and bound up his hair into a bun while Rhys slicked back his own hair.

When Rhys was ready for it, Vaughn unzipped the garment bag he had bought for him and offered him clothing; a pair of black pants and a gray button down shirt with pale gray stripes. The pants already had a belt of black leather threaded in the loops with an LED Atlas logo on the silver buckle.

“Did I do alright?” Vaughn gave him an expectant little smile.

“Yeah.” Rhys made the effort to smile. “I like it.”

“I’d have digistructed you a jacket but we're just going to the med lab… and they’re just going to make you undress again anyway.”

“Everyone wants me naked,” Rhys replied

____________________

As predicted, the clothes didn't stay on long. Rhys was made to strip and put on a cloth gown and slippers.

The medical staff took his vitals before moving on to some blood samples. They made some preliminary x-rays of his head and upper body before they settled him into a bed, where he was administered an IV under his forearm.

Vaughn was relegated to a chair on the edge of the room as they examined his partner.

Rhys closed both his eyes as the Doctor plugged a cable in to his temple port to begin the hardware and software diagnostics. The echo eye flashed yellow under the closed lid. With no warning, the cyborg began to convulse violently.

The doctor immediately removed the cable from Rhys port but it did not still him.

Vaughn jumped to his feet but stayed rooted to the floor in panic.  

One of the staff rushed forward and sedated Rhys with a large needle.

The doctor looked to Vaughn and said, “Sir, we need you to leave the room, please wait outside.”

Vaughn obeyed, knowing it was best, but it felt awful to just sit there. Waiting was pure hell. The pros and cons of calling Yvette were weighed.  

Yvette was probably sleeping, yet she would probably want to know even if it meant waking her up. On the other hand, it probably is not anything serious as Rhys had injured himself far worse than this before and come out fine. In the end, she would be angry if he did not call her, so he did.

“Vaughn, what’s going on?” Yvette sounded sleepy when she answered after the second ring.

“Hey, I’m at the Med Lab. Rhys is having some kind of fit because of his brain… robot… stuff… could you maybe come?”

“I’ll be there soon,” Yvette said without further question and dropped from the line.

From how quickly she arrived and the fact that she was wearing sneakers Vaughn guessed she had run.

Warm fingers closed over Vaughn’s as Yvette sandwiched his hand between hers. “What do we know?”

“Literally nothing, they tried to plug in and he just flapped around.” He gritted his teeth, “Never date a cyborg.”

“Your objection is noted… but I make no promises.”

Ten minutes passed before the doctor stepped out of the room. “Sir, We got him calmed we’re preparing him for surgery. It looks like we need to take out all the hardware. Something is fried in the current unit.”

Vaughn frowned darkly, “I want the current eye delivered directly to the programing team to be analyzed… can we do the re install immediately?”

“His Greatness has stated a preference to replace them at once.”

Yvette’s eyes narrowed and she said, “Stop talking about him like he was some sort of Pope. I don’t want anyone calling him that to his face.”

Vaughn nodded, “How is he otherwise?”

The flushed in shame at being called out by Yvette. He looked to Vaughn and said cautiously, “He is doing well... mostly. He’s a little malnourished and banged up, but nothing a few good meals and some bedrest won’t fix. He does appear a bit… addled, but given everything it will likely resolve. He does not appear to have suffered any significant trauma to his brain.”

“Thank you.” Vaughn sighed in relief, “Can I go see him before you start work?”

“Certainly,” the doctor nodded and made his a bee line for his office.

When they got into the room, Rhys was looking up at a data screen being held by a nurse. He was using his left hand to flip through.

Rhys smiled up at him from the bed, “Heeeey, you here to help me pick out a new color?”

“I really liked the silver arm and golden eye, but you’ll make anything look good.” Vaughn took the data pad from the nurse, “Thanks.”

“You like the gold better than the blue?” Rhys seemed pensive at the revelation.

“Well duh.” Vaughn sat down on the edge and held the data pad so Rhys could use it.

“But you said the blue one made me look like David Bowie.” Rhys said. His one brown eye was dilated.

Yvette chuckled and gave them an amused look.

“Yeah, but the yellow is warmer, more like your original eye. It makes you look younger,” Vaughn said slyly.

Rhys said, “Then yellow it is. I liked the silver arm, myself. The reflective thing was cool.”

Yvette said, “I apparently don’t get a say but I think you look pretty good as you are.”

“Your opinions always matter.” Rhys looked up at her with his one brown eye. “You have big, beautiful… opinions.”

Yvette laughed, “Did they give you painkillers already?”

“So many.” Rhys grinned.  

Vaughn leaned down and kissed him on the forehead, “I’ll talk to the doctor. We’ll get everything digistructed and installed. By the time you wake up you’ll be all up and running again.”

Rhys said. “Don’t worry. It’s just a reinstall. It’s nothing like the original surgeries.”

“I’m not worried,” He lied.

“Suuuuuure you’re not.” Rhys’ lips quirked into a grin.

Yvette hooked an arm around Vaughn’s as she looked down at the the cyborg, “We’ll see you on the flip side, Rhys.”

“When I wake up, you’re going to give me all the Atlas data. I’m just gonna rub my face all over it. Just… motorboat it.” Rhys insisted with a too broad grin.

 “Yes, Sir, Mr. CEO.” Yvette smiled indulgently.

 Vaughn looked down at his poor beloved. “I’ll see you soon… and I love you.”

 Rhys laughed and replied, “Gaaaay.”

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Vaughn continues to deal with his insecurities while trying to navigate the ongoing business of running Atlas and integrating Rhys into it.

 

The surgery to install Rhys’ new Echo Eye and arm was excruciatingly long.

Vaughn sent Yvette back to her rest part way through. She put up some token protest, but ultimately caved in and returned to her room.

For a time he thought of calling someone else to come and sit with him, but in the end he decided just to occupy his time with doing some work on his data pad. There was much to catch up on. Literally everything had been dropped to go pick up his lost companions. Deep into answering echo mails, he never even heard the door open behind him.

Fiona was looming over him so abruptly he almost dropped the data pad. “Oh, Fiona. Hi!” As she silently took her seat beside him he asked, “How are you doing?” The data pad was powered off and he set it on the seat to the other side of him.

The suit she wore was new, but very much in the style of her previous one. The fabric was comprised of dark reds and blacks with a new black hat. The con artist still had dark circles under her eyes that her makeup didn’t entirely eliminate. She fixed her gaze on a random point on the wall and stared. “Your doctor says I’m fine- but I don’t really feel fine. It’s so hot.”

Vaughn voiced his reassurance, “You’re re-adjusting… it’s… bound to take some time. Sasha’s not with you?”

“I wanted to go alone.” Fiona frowned, still staring, “I feel… I dunno. People make me uncomfortable.” She folded her arms tightly over herself. “How is Rhys?”

“Hasn’t woken up yet.” Vaughn exhaled wearily, “I’m just kind of waiting for the doctor’s okay to see him. When he does he’ll have to run a bunch of tests run I’m sure. Make sure everything is functioning properly. I’ll be here all day.”

“Is that what it was like the first time?” Fiona asked, her haunted eyes flickered over to him for a moment before looking away.

Shaking his head, Vaughn said, “This is nothing like that. That was… hell. The first time… they literally were removing parts of him. This is just  plugging things in by comparison. I mean there was some brain work involved but… he seems pretty stable now.”

Fiona picked at the lacy cuff of her shirt, “He told me about how badly he got infected… and how you nursed him back to health sacrificing all of your vacation days.” Her lips pulled into a smile but she couldn’t quite bring herself to look at him again. 

Vaughn smiled sadly, “Yeah… I told him repeatedly it was a terrible idea, but when he made up his mind to do it there wasn’t any stopping him... so I took care of him.”

Brow  furrowed, Fiona twisted her lips together, “He talked about you all the time. I want you to know that. He was devastated to be away from you.”

“Are you remembering more?” Vaughn asked.

“No… nothing that matters.” Fiona’s lips curled in disgust before smoothing back into her lost expression, “I just… I remember conversations he and I had but… not the context for them… And and then flashes of places… and things… but mostly I just remember conversations. I’m sorry.”

It caused an ache deep in his stomach to see her like this. “You don’t have to be sorry, for anything. I’m glad you were with him.” 

“I do remember sleeping… but the dreams we would have…” Fiona shook her head on and on for a long time looking lost.

Vaughn swallowed, “I’m sorry, Fi.”

That snapped her back to the present, “You don’t have anything to be sorry for either. Thank you for coming to get us so quickly.”

Vaughn smiled wanly. “No Problem. Since Sasha’s probably eager to get back to Hollow Point and all… I just want you to know that if you did want to stay here - you could... “ He held up a hand as if to ward off interruptions, “I’ll always keep a room for you.”

Fiona smiled at Vaughn for the briefest moment. She found his hand with hers gave it a friendly squeeze.

Vaughn squeezed right back before letting go when she was ready to pull away from the physical contact.

Fiona broke the silence, “I’m… definitely going to stick around a while. This is a good place to recover… and… now that she’s back with August, I don’t really know what Sasha is going to want to do.”

Relieved, Vaughn said, “I’m so glad she told you about that because I knew if she didn’t I was going to blurt it out an an inappropriate moment. He came out here with her with her a couple times even… I think they were trying to cheer me up.”

Fiona laughed incredulously, “August tried to cheer you up?”

Vaughn’s smile broadened, “He brought me whiskey and we got crazy wasted. I did, anyway.” He squinted in regret, “I’m talking blackout drunk. Those two can drink me under a table.”  

“I’m still wrapping my mind around it- them being together.” Fiona shook her head. “I mean, we spent a lot of time with him, after… the shit with Vallory. He was a mess… but I never thought they’d get back together.”

Vaughn admitted, “I didn’t tell Rhys yet. I’m going to ease him back into… everything.”

“I’m pretty sure he won’t like it, but it’s not his life. I don’t like it, but its not mine either.” Fiona sighed and seemed to be convincing herself more than anything, “August… isn’t so bad, I guess. In spite of his reputation, he’s kind of a tender heart.”

The sheer hilarity of it made Vaughn burst into laughter.

“I mean, for Pandora,” She added laughing.

“Civilized worlds are going to blow your dear, criminal mind.” Vaughn chuckled.

“I’ll have be careful.” She smiled.

“For what it's worth, August treats Sasha well. He’s not exactly a ray of sunshine, but he’s been trying to be nice-ish. They could have holed up in Hollow Point and just Echoed me now and again, but they came and looked after me.”

Fiona’s right leg started bouncing up and down. “I’m glad.” She looked at him with such sorrow in her green eyes he felt his heart ache.

Vaughn noticed it right away but didn’t say anything until he could feel his whole world vibrating from her anxiety. “Fi, are you doing okay?”

She stopped the nervous fidget once it was called out, “Sorry. I’m just… off. Everything is making me on edge. Everything. Do you mind if I see him when he wakes up? If not I can come back later… I’d just really like to see him.” A flush came over her face.

Vaughn’s heart beat faster, his own tendency towards anxiety whipped up with whatever was making Fiona so twitchy. Ugly possibilities still lay beneath the surface, but he drove them out of his mind and said, “Stay with me, and we’ll see him together.” 

Fiona’s hand reached out and slid into Vaughn’s again and held it until the doctor admitted them to Rhys’ room.

Rhys still looked a little out of it. He was propped up in his hospital bed, bleary eyed, still coming off of whatever drugs they had pumped into him. The lights powered on in his echo eye as he worked on focusing for a moment. “I’m operational.” His robot hand raised to wave its metal fingers.

Vaughn hurried to Rhys’ left side and lay his hand on Rhys’ tattooed arm. There was a small adhesive bandage where they had taken out his IV line. “You look good... “ He brushed Rhys’ hair back from his head.”

Rhys looked sadly up at Vaughn, “So do you.” He looked up at Fiona, smile widening and spoke her name like a prayer.

Fiona folded her arms, lingering a few feet away from the bed. “Glad you’re okay, Rhys. I’m going to go… I’m still pretty weak.”

“Don’t leave me,” Rhys body tensed as he practically begged her while sitting up abruptly.

Vaughn rubbed his hand over the thin material of medical gown over Rhys’ shoulder.

“Okay… I won’t… I won’t leave.” Fiona needed to sit, that much was apparent.

Vaughn helped to steady her as she sat down next to Rhys. He stepped back, letting them have whatever kind of moment this was.

They both seemed to relax like the very act of each other’s presence was a salve for whatever ailed them.

Fiona took Rhys’ hands between hers for a moment and closed her eyes.

As soothed as they were by each other's company only made Vaughn all the more distressed. It caused a pain in his oldest emotional wound.

All at once they both seemed to realize what they were doing. Fiona dropped Rhys’ hand onto the bed and looked away.

Rhys looked sheepish and hid it by scrubbing at his face with his freed hand. “I’m out of here. Where are my pants?”

“You’re not discharged yet.” Vaughn said, taking in a deep breath.

Rhys blew a raspberry, “I can calibrate myself at home. I did my half of the deal; I got my med check up. Now I want to get back to Atlas.” He made vaguely threatening grabby hands into the air.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Vaughn replied. “When you’re all done here we’ll get more food in you and then you can start looking at the training materials we prepared…”

Fiona rubbed at her temples.

Rhys made no effort to quell his surliness about the delay, “That sucks. But fine.”

Vaughn’s watch rang abruptly and Vaughn accepted the call.

In her typical business like clip Yvette opened with, “Vaughn, your Vault hunter’s at the gates, should I have him let him in?”

“Which one?” Vaughn squinted. He knew a fair few of them now and almost all of them made him distinctly uncomfortable.

He could hear practically hear Yvette rolling her eyes. “The one you have an active job with. Timothy Lawrence… he says to tell you he did that job for you… and brought back the thing… and you need to pay him.”

“Oh sh… yeah. Sure… uh… Send him to my office and I’ll talk to him there.” Vaughn grimaced and looked over to the two sitting on the bed. Rhys was in no shape to see any one that remotely resembled their former boss.

“Sure thing.” She replied and dropped from the line. Efficient, as always.

Rhys shifted his legs over the side of the bed to sit on the edge of it, “You hired a Vault hunter?”

Vaughn said, “Dude, they get stuff done that I don’t have the time to do or is way too dangerous for me. Hang with Fiona and I’ll be back as soon as possible. Plus… He’s a friend of Janey and Athena and not tied up with the Sanctuary ones… and uh, he’s ex Hyperion. I’ll introduce you to him some time.”

“I want to meet him now.” Rhys said.

“Now’s not... great.” Vaughn grimaced,  “Just get yourself sorted out and I’ll come back and take you home when we’re both done, okay?”

Fiona seemed to come to from a trancelike state as she said, “I’ll keep you company while he’s gone.”

“Fine,” Rhys looked annoyed and gave a bitter silent wave. There was no protest to Vaughn’s departure as there had been for Fiona’s.

Vaughn noted it sourly. “Coooool,” Vaughn drawled. “Good... yeah. Okay. See you both in a bit.” He hurried off.

Vaughn planned his strategy carefully. Normally, Timothy liked to stay on a few days. The wreckage of Helios was the closest thing he had to a home base next to Janey’s garage. This would also --in normal times-- not be a problem, but Vaughn’s concerns of Rhys seeing him before he had a chance to explain were considerable.

Vaughn hurried to his office though he got stopped several times as he usually did to exchange pleasantries with various Children of Helios about matters of their human hive.

By the time he got to his office, Timothy was sitting on the couch across from his desk, busy reading the copy of Hammerlock’s field guide to Pandoran creatures Vaughn kept on his desk. He had his sunglasses slid down the front of his green Torgue T-shirt. A large blue chunk of moonstone was on his lap.

The doppelganger did his best to keep himself looking as far from Jack as possible. His hair was longer than Jack wore it, and the gray stripe was no longer there. To disguise his distinctively chiseled chin he wore a thick, but not overly long brown beard.

The thing that was not within his power to change were his blue and green eyes. If one looked closely, it could be seen that on his temples were pink scarred areas that once bolted a mask to his face. The one on his chin was covered sufficiently by his beard.

“Hey Vaughn, look what I brought you.” Timothy said in something that sounded more like his old voice, nasal and no longer anything like the former CEO of Hyperion. He set down the book and held aloft the mineral.  “I brought you a bag full of them, there.” He stuck his thumb towards a large duffel bag.

Vaughn stepped over and hefted the bag off of the ground and onto his desk. “Woah. Thank you…”

“What do you need so much moonstone for anyway?” Timothy put his feet up on the small metal coffee table.

Vaughn rolled his eyes, “Crazy Earl’s got some … things I need and this is what he wanted.”

“Careful with him, they don’t call him crazy for nothing.”

Vaughn nodded agreeably, ‘I will. How were the old stomping grounds?”

Tim shrugged. “It was nice to be back…well, mostly nice. Can you believe in some quarters they still venerate him up there? Handsome Fucking Jack, savior of Elpis. Doesn’t matter what he was going to do to Pandora… cuz he saved that crazy-ass moon.”

“Terrifying,” Vaughn deadpans ”Speaking of people with personality cults… there’s… news.”

Timothy sat up up placing his feet back on the floor. “Good news?”

Vaughn smiled brilliantly as he sat down at his chair and punched the code to access his desk safe. “My partner is home safe.”

“Woah.” Timothy smiled warmly, “That’s amazing… Congratulations.”

Vaughn smiled as he quickly and efficiently counted out a stack of four thousand dollars. “He just got his robotics all swapped out… some kind of … malfunction in the Vault… He and my friend Fiona are safe. The vault spit them out in Sanctuary for some reason and we picked them up.”

Tim smiled, “Athena will be thrilled. Make sure you tell her soon.”

Vaughn knew Tim meant Athena would be glad about Fiona. Her feelings about Rhys were still hardly the warmest. “You’re not headed out that way?”

“Nah… I was hoping just to lay low here for a bit, if that’s cool.” He set the moon rock on the arm of the sofa.

Vaughn took his new favorite model of high powered Atlas revolver out of the safe as well and set it by the stack of cash.

Timothy eyed the gun, “You know, I can leave too if you want me to.”

“Sorry… no no… you don’t have to go… and the gun’s a bonus. You’re going to love it. I’ve been having so much fun with it at the range that I thought you’d try it out and let me know what you thought of it.”

Tim exhaled, relieved, “I’d like to stay a week or two, then I think I might head back to the Fridge for a while. Get a remote cabin for the winter and finish up the memoirs.”

Vaughn nodded, “I look forward to reading the finished book. You can certainly stay… but look… you have to be careful. I need some time to talk to Rhys and explain about you to him. With that whole thing I told you about Jack being in his brain… I just don’t want to spook him.”

Tim pursed his lips and then they stretched into small grin that looked nothing like Jack’s smirks. “Not a problem. I’ll go straight to my quarters and sleep for a day straight. Just have someone deliver food. You won’t see me.”

Vaughn closed the door on his safe. “Thanks. I’ll explain it all to him when he gets done at the medlab… and let me get you some Atlas shirts so you can represent us.”

Tim rose to approach the desk. He pocketed the money and examined the gun, carefully holding it away from the other man.  “Cool. This looks awesome. Let me know when it's all clear and I’ll try this thing out. I will also take all the free shirts you can give me… and I look forward to meeting Rhys.”

Vaughn grinned, “I’m excited too. Thanks for being awesome. I’ll get your dinner sent right away.”

Tim gave him the thumbs up. “Alright… Cool. I’ll get out of your way and let you get back to your man.”

“Take care!” Vaughn said, cheerfully.  “We’ll do dinner soon at my place.”

Without so much as a knock of warning, the door opened and Tim turned around in surprise.

Vaughn’s mouth dropped open as Rhys and Fiona walked into the room together.

Rhys made eye contact with the doppelganger before recoiling in horror.

Wide eyed, Fiona snapped her derringer into her hand and trained it on the man with the odd-colored eyes. She moved herself fully in front of Rhys to shield him.

Rhys backed against the door and froze in denial of the sight of the man before him. The beard and hair did nothing to disguise him when you could see those unnerving eyes and the cruel brow. 

The vault hunter froze and put his hands up. “Oh hey! I’m not Jack.”

It did him credit in Vaughn’s eyes that Tim didn’t escalate the situation. “His name is Timothy. He’s a surgical body double… and he’s my friend. Please do not shoot him. I can explain. Rhys.”

Fiona slid her gun back into her sleeve. She muttered, uncharacteristically, “Sorry.”

Tim shrugged, “It’s okay, there’s no way that would have gotten through my shield.”

“What… the fuck,” Rhys said in a hissing whisper. 

Vaughn rolled his chair back and rose. “What are you even doing out of the doctor’s? We made a deal.” He sounded angry, and realized it only after. 

Rhys shook off the shock and glared down at Vaughn, looking in no mood to be scolded,  “I got tired of waiting.” He leaned forward, grabbed the edge of the door and threw it closed. No need for personal trauma to spill out to his employees.

Fiona and Tim were awkwardly silent in response to the slammed door.

Vaughn put both his hands up in a placating fashion, “I’m sorry… I was going to get you and then explain this. I didn’t want… what literally just happened to happen. You shouldn’t be up.”

Rhys looked at Fiona and took a deep breath. “It’s … it’s fine.” He looked at Vaughn’s office in a sort of awe that overtook any lingering terror. “Uh… “ He thrust his left hand out at the vault hunter. “I’m…” He swallowed, still visibly unnerved, “Rhys.”

Timothy shook it, “Good to finally meet you. I’m Timothy Lawrence.” He looked to Fiona, “And would that make you Fiona?”

“Maybe.” Fiona narrowed her eyes at him.

“He’s a friend of Athena and Janey,” Vaughn explained. ”They knew each other up on the moon back before Rhys and I worked at Hyperion.”

As soon as he was done shaking Timothy’s hand Rhys started looking around the office. “This is your office Vaughn?” Rhys seemed energized though still undeniably drugged.

Vaughn smiled warmly. “If you like it, it’s your office. It’s the biggest one. You are still totally tripping on surgery meds. Sit down.”

Rhys compiled and moved to settle on the far end of the couch. This was all a lot for him to take in; especially in his present state. “I love it.” 

Fiona remained standing. She still seemed tired, but only leaned against the wall. “Full offense, but why do we believe this guy? How do we know you're not him just… trying to skip out on paying for your reign terror?”

Timothy sighed heavily, “Because he’s dead. I was his doppelganger… body double… the only one surgically altered to look just like him… because I was dumb and in need of cash. The rest after me got digistructed disguises. I did a lot of things I am not proud of working for Jack, I admit. But I was just trying to ride out my contract after he went… really… really… crazy.”

“Fi… everyone here at Helios did things we weren’t proud of for Hyperion, Jack, or both.” Vaughn said, “Does he sound like Jack? I know you’ve heard Jack’s voice.”

“He could have a voice modulator.” She protested.

“Yeah, but I had my doctors take one out of him… one that made him sound like Handsome Jack. Athena vouches for him. Call her. I haven’t had a chance to tell her yet that you’re safe.”

Timothy lifted his head and stretched out his neck to show he didn’t have one of the cheap external modulators. “Athena and I go way back… if you let me some time I’ll tell you the whole nutso story of how we worked together for Jack on Elpis. For now though, I wanna eat and rest. I’ve got some serious moon lag.”

“Alright. Uhm… I guess it’s nice to meet you too.” Fiona said, sounding mollified for the moment though she didn't offer to shake his hand.

He smiled in a friendly way. “Nice to meet you both.” He nodded his head at them before he looked to Vaughn, “no worry about sending me anything. I’ll go grab that food myself.”

Vaughn waved and Tim headed out of the office. “I promise He's ok. Now… Rhys. I’m taking you back to the doctor.”

“Everything is fiiiiine.” Rhys insisted.

Vaughn chuckled, “Nope… we’re going to get you calibrated and any doctor’s orders and then we can go home, eat and you can start working.”

Rhys’ shoulders slumped, “Alright, alright. Back to the boring-ass medbay.”

Fiona yawned, “I’m going to leave you guys to it. I… need another nap and I need to talk to Sasha.”

Rhys accepted Vaughn’s help to rise to his feet. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

She stepped forward and gave each one of them a hug.

When she left, Rhys declared, “I look forward to talking to your friend Tim more but… I might also need some serious therapy after that.”

____________________

Though it bored him to no end, Rhys sat through the calibrations and tests until the doctors at last deemed him all ready to go.

They had a relaxed, private dinner and by the time they were done Rhys admitted he was too tired to to do anything about Atlas. With the decision made to pick up fresh in the morning; the pair went to bed.

Vaughn tried to sleep, though he found it hard to do. Every time he stopped spooning Rhys soft, pathetic noises were triggered until Vaughn held him again.

As he lay on his side and wrapped his arm around Rhys’ waist for the umpteenth time he wondered how many times had Fiona held him like this. Such thoughts kept him awake until eventually he drifted off to sleep only to be woken up a couple times by his partner’s troubled dreams.

The next time he awoke, he found himself in the bed alone. The clock told him it was long past the time when he normally would have awoken. “Rhys?” He called out. There was no answer and the pace of his heartbeat increased until he could feel it thundering in his ears.

He got to his feet and headed out of the bedroom. “Rhys!” He called louder.

“Yeah!” Rhys’ voice was heard from the living room.

He walked into the living room to see Rhys using his palm display while sitting in his new pajamas on the couch.

Rhys rose immediately, dismissing the display to bounded eagerly into Vaughn’s arms and hug him tightly.

“Hey…” Vaughn smiled and breathed deep to will himself calm again.

“I left you sleeping… you seemed to need it.” Rhys said running his hands over Vaughn’s back.

“Thanks, I had a hard night.” Vaughn didn’t volunteer why. “What do you think… about Atlas?”

Rhys eyes shined with near childlike excitement, “Vaughn, this is… incredible. Amazing!” Rhys released Vaughn from the hug, but only so he could take his face in his hands and press a long loving kiss to his lips.

“I’m really glad. I was worried.” Vaughn smiled when the tall man straightened.

There were small tears at the corner of Rhys’ eyes, “You did such a good job.. You… and Yvette and the Children of Helios… How did you get them to go back to work?

Vaughn chuckled and took Rhys’ flesh hand to lead him back to the couch where they both sat down. “Well… I gathered up people with expertise and just… asked them for advice, you know. I don’t know much about… a lot of this. But between us all we were able to get things moving and… well I think they missed this kind of work. Not everyone has decided to resume the corporate life but most were ready to come back. I promised them things will be different than Hyperion… because i know that’s what you wanted, too. So with that in mind… they got back to work.”

“You did all that work… are you sure you’re okay with just giving me the helm?” Rhys asked, eyes glassy with wetness with a smile brighter than sunshine.

“Of course,” Vaughn squeezed his hand. “Running a company is your dream, not mine. I’ll be more than satisfied to keep an eye on the financial picture.”

“I’ll never be able to repay you and Yvette,” Rhys said.

“You don’t need to. All I need is for you to keep the promises I made to the workers.” Vaughn reassured him.

Rhys nodded eagerly, “Of course… definitely! It will be different than Hyperion. Better… because it's us.”

“No Megalomaniacs,” Vaughn grinned.

“Absolutely none.” Rhys’ eyes were bright, “Just one happy man who will take all constructive criticism offered and trust his advisors.”

Rhys eyes were so full of love that Vaughn was struck a deep shame for his mistrust. It didn’t matter if he and Fiona were close. It did not matter if they had held and cared for each other inside of the Vault. That's what friends really do. What mattered was that Rhys still loved him and still needed him. They were together again.

“I’ll have the kitchen send us breakfast.” Vaughn beamed. “Then we can get you a proper tour and…”

Rhys shook his head, a sly grin on his thin lips. “No. There’s something I want way more than breakfast.”

“Oh?” Vaughn feigned ignorance, “What could that possibly be?” Rhys’ hand shot up and grabbed him by the front of his T-Shirt and jerked him him closer.

“I want you and your abtastic body all over me.” Lowly he purred, “Fooling around in the showers was cool but I want you... to… uh...” he stumbled looking for the words, “you know… fuck me.” His face flushed and he looked away shyly.

Vaughn let himself be pulled in close and laughed at the lame ending to his seduction attempt. He kissed Rhys’ cheek tenderly, his cock growing hard and ready with anticipation. Vaughn was objectively better at dirty talk. He put his lips to Rhys’ ear and breathed, “I have been just dying to throw you down on the bed and fuck you raw. I want to get intimately reacquainted with every square inch of your body because I am thirsty as hell you are a tall glass of water.”

Rhys gave a little awkward bit of laughter. Though clearly aroused, he sounded a little embarrassed as well. Their relationship as a couple and their intimacy was still so new. “Yes Please,” he hummed, “Just give me like twenty minutes to shower.”

Vaughn scoffed and sat back, “Oh really? You get me all worked up and then its ‘meet you in twenty minutes?’”

Rhys laughed, “Twenty is a deal. You know it takes me upwards of an hour before I’m ready for most anything.”

Vaughn pulled away with a fond grin, “Yeah, I know you’re a dandy. Off you go.”

The moment Rhys was gone, Vaughn raced around the apartment to try to set some kind of mood. He rummaged until he found some candles that he lit and dispersed through the room. After that it was into into the bathroom to wash himself up. He brushed his teeth, trimmed his beard, and washed himself up before applying deodorant and a little bit of mild cologne.

Rhys was gone well longer than twenty minutes, which failed to shock Vaughn in any way.

It was good. It gave him time to take all the bunches of strange Pandoran flowers that the Children of Helios had gathered up for Rhys’ return and move them to the nightstands on either side of the bed to complete the romantic mood. Lastly, he got out a towel and the lubricant and set them on the top corner of the bed.

By the time Rhys entered he was naked and reclining on the bed in his best attempt at a seductive pose.

Rhys returned still wearing Pajamas, though a big smile spread out over his lips as he looked at Vaughn. “Wow… you know you don’t have to seduce me... ‘ He pulled off his shirt and tossed it on the dresser. “I was already going to let you into my pants.”

Vaughn sat up and patted the bed. “Let’s get rid of those shall we? PJs are not nearly as sexy as you naked.”

Rhys sauntered over and pushed the pants down his hips letting them fall to the floor. He wore no boxers.

Vaughn looked him up and down. “You know you’re so hot no matter what… but I look forward to feeding you properly and getting more meat back on those bones. You’re so skinny.” He gave a gentile poke to Rhys’ midsection.

Rhys winked, “Right now i’m just looking for you to bone me with your meat.” He sat down next to Vaughn.

Vaughn wasted no time wrapping an arm around Rhys, enjoying the feel of skin on skin. “Kiss me, dumbass.”

Rhys leaned in and pressed his lips to Vaughn’s for the barest of moments before some wicked impulse came over him. He grabbed Vaughn roughly around the waist and tried to wrap his arms around him as he tossed him back on the bed.

“Wow. Feisty!” Vaughn laughed and wasted no time in trying to counter Rhys’ ambush. The cyborg’s motives were like cellophane to his oldest friend.

Rhys had always prefered physicality over the use of language when indicating his sexual interest in Vaughn.

They began their teenaged trysts with such simple wrestling in their cramped dorm room at Rhys’ tipsy instigation. Fumbling and drunk, wrestling gave way to groping until they broke down and mauled each other’s mouths like animals while gracelessly jerking the other off.

It felt natural that rhys would be comfortable starting here, where there would no words to trip him up. All that could be done now was pounce, wrestle, kiss, and fuck. Vaughn was entirely down for that.

There was not much of a challenge. At his best, which he certainly was not, Rhys could seldom wrestle Vaughn into submission. Though losing, he laughed and it seemed carefree.

Vaughn knew how he wanted Rhys. He wanted to look him in the eyes as he made love to him. When he had wrestled Rhys on his back, he pushed down hard on his shoulders and straddled him to press an impassioned kiss.

Rhys pushed back against Vaughn’s desperately. His arms encircled the smaller man and crushed him tight against him.

The too tight press of Rhys’ arms felt incredible to his touchy-starved skin. Rhys felt so warm beneath him. The beating of Vaughn’s heart was rapid. He felt dizzy with the combination of arousal, joy, and a bittersweet sorrow for lost time. 

They both became aware at that moment that both of them had tears in their eyes, which only lead to kissing harder and squeezing tighter.

At his limit, Vaughn grabbed Rhys by his shoulders and pushed them down against the bed to climb off. Unable to to abide any more foreplay, he grabbed the lube. 

Rhys released him and scooted back on the bed closer to the head board. He reached out and grabbed one of the pillows to push under his head and shoulders.

Vaughn wasted neither time nor words lubing up his fingers and crawling in between Rhys’ spread thighs.

As eager as they both were, Vaughn didn’t want to hurt him even if his partner’s inclinations often lead towards pain. His slick index finger circled Rhys’ waiting ass before slowly pushing its way inside.

Rhys made a soft humming noise, though he seemed to have gone shy. His fleshy left forearm lay across his eyes, hiding his face. White teeth pressed his bottom lip tightly between them.

Vaughn added a second finger and slowly fucked him that way. It was only a matter of time before his lover grew impatient. “You ready?”

Rhys dropped his arm back onto the bed and looked him in the eye and nodded, before his eyes trailed lower down to Vaughn’s abs and lower still.

Vaughn sat back on his heels and made a nice show of pouring more lube into his palm and sliding it up and down his heavy cock until it glistened. The lusty look on Rhys’ face made it twitch with arousal.

With a hand holding under both of his knees, Rhys kept his legs spread and waiting.

Vaughn’s slickened hand reached out and took hold of Rhys’ erection. His other hand guided his cock as he slowly invaded his fiance's body. He felt tight and incredible.

Rhys moaned as the thick cock inside him filled him. His eyes fluttered closed. A tremor moved his lips and he gasped.

Vaughn gave him a few more deliberately slow thrusts to let Rhys get used to him before he lay his body down flush so they could continue kissing. One hand stayed wrapped around Rhys’ dick, squeezing it with delicious friction.

Releasing his grip on his legs, Rhys wrapped his arms around Vaughn again to caress all the muscles in his back and shoulders.

Rhys tongue still tasted minty in Vaughn’s mouth as the tall man aggressively kissed him while moaning at each thrust. The nails on the cyborg’s flesh hand dug into his back indicating perhaps a desire for rougher play. Vaughn gave in, biting Rhys’ lower lip before digging his teeth into his tattooed neck to bite the skin and suck it into dark marks. Faint growls came from from deep in his throat as he pushed harder, and deeper.

Every move made Rhys’ moans more desperate as Vaughn hammered him over and over again, his hand still toying with his cock.

“Oh god… Vaughn!” Rhys cried out. 

Vaughn was gratified to hear him say his name with that same desperation and reverence as he spoke Fiona’s earlier. “Rhys,” He said his name back before kissing him hard, giving them both a moment of respite and a chance to catch their breath.

“I love you,” Rhys said when Vaughn’s lips pulled away again.

“I love you more,” Vaughn breathed hard and smiled down at his partner.

“Then don’t stop.” Rhys whispered.

Vaughn grinned wickedly before he slowly resumed working his cock slowly in and out of his lover before building up speed.

Rhys drew his left hand back and bit into his knuckle and groaned into it while his metal arm fell back on the bed, grasping at the sheets. He looked so beautifully wanton.

Vaughn held nothing back now, his entire being focused on making Rhys come like it was a sacred duty. He read all the signs, knowing that Rhys was so close to the edge he was writhing indecently below him.

“Oh God.” Rhys cried as he gave a shuddering spasm, shooting his load against both of their stomachs before collapsing back against the bed.

There was no way for Vaughn to hold out after that with Rhys constricting around him with his orgasm. He kept thrusting through his own climax. He pressed his cheek against Rhys’ skin and sighed heavily.

Rhys had put his arms around him again, only it was gentle this time, soothing up and down his back with both hands.

Vaughn kissed him again, feeling his seed leaking out of his lover as his softening cock stayed nestled there a few moments longer.

When they parted, Vaughn grabbed the towel to do a bit of clean up before he settled at Rhys’ side and gathered him into his arms.

After a long bout of mutual cuddling, Rhys finally spoke, “That was… just what I needed.”

Vaughn said, ‘Me too… I missed this… I missed you.”

“Well I’m not going anywhere,” Rhys declared, “You saved me from the clutches of those Sanctuary assholes so you get to keep me forever.”

“To the victor goes the spoils.” Vaughn chuckled.

“Yup.” Rhys replied.

Vaughn shifted onto his back, though Rhys persisted in his clinging, adjusting himself as needed. His pale blue eyes looked to the face resting on his shoulder, “I don't know of you even remember this, but there's a moment that's been stuck in my mind often since the day we first came here.”

Rhys smiled wistfully, “I remember a lot about that day, which moment.”

“You were ragging on that food cart guy… who turned out to be a bandit...telling him he needed to get a facial." Vaughn looked amused. It wasn't funny then, but hindsight made everything more amusing.

Rhys’ laughter rumbled to life. “Oh man. That guy. Yeah. His skin was gross. He needed a proper regimen.”

Vaughn snickered, “Well the part that I'm stuck on was when he came at me… wanting to know what was in the case and you just looked him in the eye and stood in front of me. You didn't even know what you were going to do, I bet. He could have killed us both where we stood, but you didn't even look scared. You protected me.”

Rhys downplayed it, saying casually, “I don't like anyone picking on my bro. I never did.”

“I know. Even back in college.” Vaughn took a deep breath, “There’s never been a time where I didn't love you, but after we stopped fooling around, I tried really hard to deaden that kind of feeling for you. I… resented you even, because it was easier than loving you... but when you got in that meat stinking psychos face to defend me, risking your life and limb… other limbs… I fell in love with you all over again. If that hadn’t have happened. I don’t know if I’d have had the courage to tell you how I felt before we got separated.”

Rhys squeezed him tighter, “Now it's twice you've rescued me, even though it turned out I didn’t really need to be rescued from LB… still...I’ll hold both those memories close… of you being so heroic.”

“I'm not a hero.” Vaughn insisted, “I'm just a guy in love. I'm just really glad I could return the favor. That I could show you how much I love you.”

“Pfffft. BS. You're _my_ hero.” Rhys insisted.

“Awwww,” Vaughn said softly as Rhys lifted his head and shifted closer to kiss him again. For the first time in a long time, Vaughn was certain that everything was going to be alright. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading. This fic ends just a few days before the short story 'Presence'.


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